Lena had managed to keep things in order for the rest of that day and nearly the whole next one. She wasn't nearly as bad at leading as she thought she would be, but she still didn't like it.
She was changing Eko's bandages when a loud rustling could be heard from the jungle. She stood up abruptly, hand on the hilt of her sword, thinking that it might be the Others, or even a polar bear. She hadn't seen one of those in a while.
But it turned out to be the exact opposite.
"Sayid!" Lena exclaimed, her hand detaching itself from the sword as she ran over to him, Jin, and Sun. The three of them looked disheveled and tired, not to mention that it seemed they lost the boat. But they were alive, and that was all that mattered.
"Dudes, what happened?" Hurley, who had also made his way over, asked.
"The Others attacked." Sun explained tiredly. "They took the boat, but we're alright. We just had to take the long walk back." For some reason, it amused Lena to think about Sayid third-wheeling to Jin and Sun while they walked across the island to get back, even though it wasn't that funny.
"Never leave me in charge again." Lena said to Sayid, only partially joking. She really hated being the one everyone looked to. It was a lot of pressure, and she kept feeling like she was going to screw everything up.
"Trust me, I have no intention of going off and doing anything like that again." He replies, gesturing broadly to the jungle. Lena assumed he was talking about the whole 'Others attacking the boat' thing. "Though, I'm sure you did great here."
"I doubt it." Lena muttered in response. She glanced back at the camp and suddenly remembered Eko, who she was supposed to be looking after. "Sayid, I think there's something you should see."
…
"How long has be been like this?" Sayid asked, shocked, as he stared down at Eko's unconscious, unmoving form.
"A few days now." Lena answered. Charlie and Hurley were standing behind the two of them as well, both of them having been extremely helpful during said few days.
"What happened to him?" Sayid continued.
"Before or after we saved him from the polar bear cave?" Charlie replied, sarcasm evident in his response.
Lena looked down at Eko, somehow seeing him in a different light since Sayid got back. Instead of seeing all the ways he had recovered form his injuries, she saw the blood and the cuts that covered him from head to toe. She saw her messy handiwork as she had tried to patch him up.
She really wasn't qualified whatsoever. But she had done her best, and hopefully, that had been enough.
"Hey, do you guys smell smoke?" Hurley asked as they walked away for Eko's tent. While Lena didn't have the best sense of smell, the smoke in the air was clear to her.
She turned to see that Eko's tent, the one they had just left, was on fire.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Lena whisper-yelled as the four of them completely changed directions and sprinted towards Eko's tent. While Sayid and a few of the other survivors who had noticed what was happening tried to put the fire out, Lena, Charlie, and Hurley managed to pull Eko out.
He seemed mostly unharmed, for a guy who had just been in a burning tent. He was mumbling something about a brother and confessions, but Lena didn't really pay attention.
"You're alright, it's okay." Charlie said to Eko, although Lena had a feeling Eko couldn't really hear Charlie in the state that he was in.
"Get him some water." Lena instructed. Charlie nodded and ran off, stopping to quickly explain what happened to a very confused Locke along the way.
Lena started to go back towards the tent, figuring she could help with the fire, when she heard Charlie shouting Eko's name. She whirled around yet again to find that the man had disappeared.
…
"I don't understand." Lena began. "How could he just disappear? He was unconscious, wounded, and basically out of his mind!"
"I don't know how Eko left." Locke answered. "But I have a solution for something else: I think I know how to find Jack, Kate, and Sawyer." Lena nearly fell off of the large rock she had been sitting on. Locke had actually come up with a plan.
"Can I ask why he is being included in the conversation?" Sayid asked, gesturing to the final member of the little group, Desmond.
"Is that supposed to hurt my feelings?" Desmond asked. Lena laughed, although it probably wasn't intended to be funny. Desmond then continued explaining exactly why he should be included in the discussion. "The computer in the hatch wasn't just for pushing the buttons. I'm pretty sure it could be used to communicate with other stations."
Lena remembered the DHARMA orientation video she had seen in the hatch, where a scientist who's name she forgot had talked about the Initiative, the hatch, and, as Desmond said, other stations.
"This is fascinating, but you just told me the hatch exploded." Sayid said dryly. Lena raised her eyebrows, but didn't say anything. Ever since getting back from the boat trip, Sayid seemed to be even more easily annoyed than usual.
"One of them did." Locke replied, putting an emphasis on the number, implicating that there were numerous hatches scattered around the island.
"You want to communicate with the Others." Lena said as Locke's plan dawned on her. She had to admit, it wasn't the strategic procedure she had been expecting. But, then again, she hadn't thought of anything, so she wasn't one to talk.
"No luck, dudes." Said a voice from behind him. Lena didn't have to turn to know that it was Hurley, and that Charlie was probably with him as well. "We looked everywhere, but Eko's gone. There's no trail. Not that we even know what a trail looks like, by the way."
"When you pulled him out of the tent, did he say anything?" Locke asked. Lena attempted to recall Eko's frantic mutterings, but nothing came to mind.
"Just mumbling something about his brother." Charlie answered. "Nothing coherent, though."
"Sayid, pack your gear." Locke said with an air of authority. "We're going to that computer. And don't worry about Eko. We're all going to the same place, after all."
…
That same place Locke had been talking about happened to be a clearing near a cliff, which was also apparently where Boone had fallen, giving him the injuries that led to his death.
Before leaving, Locke had asked the entire camp if they wanted to go, saying that he wasn't going to run things like Jack did. One couple volunteered, named Nikki and Paulo. They were annoying, but Lena just kind of ignored them.
Locke led them into the jungle and found Eko almost immediately, near a stream. His wounds were nearly gone, which surprised Lena, but not that much. They were on that island, after all.
"Do you have any idea where it is that we're going?" Sayid whispered to Lena as they trekked through the jungle. They had been walking for at least an hour, probably more.
"Nope." Lena replied. "At least, I've never been. But I've heard it's like the hatch, but with less supplies."
"We're here." Locke suddenly announced. Sure enough, Lena could see a yellow Beechcraft plane resting on the jungle floor, upside down. With a chill, she realized that the red stains on the side were dried blood. Boone's? Or someone else?
"You all go down to the hatch." Locke continued, pointing to the steel door in the ground. "I'll be down there in a moment." Sayid glanced at Lena for confirmation, and she just shrugged.
Sayid and Lena, along with Nikki and Paulo, managed to get the door open, and the four of them went inside as Locke and Eko stayed near the plane.
Lena didn't know what it was they were talking about, and she wasn't sure that she wanted to.
…
"I'm Dr. Mark Wickmund, and this is the Orientation Film for Station 5 of the DHARMA Initiative." It was the same man from the hatch's video, although Lena was pretty sure his name had been something different. Still, she decided not to focus on that, and she payed attention to the video. "Station 5, or, The Pearl, is a monitoring station where the activities of participants in DHARMA Initiative projects can be observed and recorded."
Locke, who had finally gotten down, was talking to Sayid about technical and electrical stuff that Lena didn't understand. Eko, meanwhile, was still up above.
"Hey guys?" Nikki asked. "What are these other TVs for?" Lena glanced at where Nikki was and saw that there was an entire wall of TVs. She briefly wondered how she hadn't noticed those before, but stopped wondering so she could listen to the conversation. "You said there's more than one, right? Maybe they're connected to other hatches."
"Well, I'm suddenly feeling very stupid." Locke commented. Lena couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. Knowing Locke, probably not.
"I could try to patch one of the other feeds." Sayid added. He started to say something else, but he was interrupted by the sound of a toilet flush. All of them stopped talking to see Paulo walk out of the bathroom. His face flushed red with embarrassment, and he muttered something about the toilet still working before going to the back of the room.
Sayid continued to fiddle with the control board before one of the TVs changed from static to a low-quality video of another room.
"We got something." Lena called out to Sayid. He dropped whatever he had been holding, and they all stared at the screen, waiting for something to happen.
Suddenly, Nikki let out a loud gasp as a man appeared on the screen. He was tall, and had a large black eyepatch over one of his eyes. Overall, the man looked very intimidating.
His hand reached up towards the camera and flicked some kind of switch. As soon as he did so, the TV switched to static yet again, as if the man had never even been there.
Tick-tick-tick-tick.
There was only one thing on the island capable of making that noise. And, coupled with the loud metallic screech, Lena came to a conclusion: The smoke monster was near.
And Eko was outside.
While Nikki and Paulo were confused, Sayid, Lena, and Locke all knew what was happening. The three of them scrambled out of the hatch as fast as they could, and saw Eko lying facedown a few feet away.
Locke reached him first, and Lena could tell what had happened just by Locke's sad expression.
Eko was dead, or at least close to dying. He seemed to have one last bit of life left in him, as Lena could see him use his last breaths to whisper something too Locke. However, it was clear once Eko's body went limp that he was gone.
"What did he say?" Lena asked breathlessly, not really comprehending what had just happened.
She wasn't really sure what she had been expecting Eko's last words to be, but it certainly wasn't what Locke answered.
"'We're next.'"